Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt believes most rock bands fail after their first album.
“Perseverance and stupidity and not bailing out when it gets tough,” the guitarist told Classic Rock about gaining new fans and producing 14 albums. “But I don’t sit and wonder where the time went. The thing that depresses me is when I look at other bands’ discographies.”
He added, “Most of my favourite bands, their fourteenth album was sh*t, and their thirteenth album, and the twelfth one. Maybe only the first three were good. Part of me thinks: ‘Have we been doing sh*t albums for years?’ You don’t mean that, though, do you?”
Opeth’s latest album ‘The Last Will and Testament’ arrived on October 11, 2024. The album is a concept story set after World War I, about a wealthy, conservative man whose will reveals shocking family secrets. The band collaborated with Ian Anderson on the record.
Åkerfeldt talked about convincing Anderson in a chat with Kerrang, saying, “Well, the Ian thing came about because I asked him already years ago when we did the ‘Heritage’ record if he would play the flute.”
“I’d emailed some email, I don’t know if it was the correct one, supposedly addressing Ian, about him being on that album, and I never got a reply then. So we ended up using a Swedish guy that’s now passed on that record,” the musician continued.
He went on to say, “Somewhere along the line I did an interview, talking about records. One was a Jethro Tull record, and I told the story that Ian didn’t reply and said something like, ‘That motherf*cker!’ I got an email from after that from the Jethro Tull management saying, ‘Ian would love to play with you in the future. Just let us know.'”
“This time, though, I wasn’t really searching for his flute playing, because I’ve been looking at Ian Anderson interviews, and his voice is just so f*cking good – his speaking voice,” Mikael stated. “So I asked him to do kind of narrations, which he did. And it’s insane. Along the line, he asked, ‘Do you need some flute as well?'”
Opeth will go on a European tour in February 2025 to promote their new album. The tour kicks off on February 9 in Helsinki.
